How To Write Game Changing Goals In Six Easy Steps

In every self-help book, you will ever read there is almost guaranteed to be a section on goal setting. Most of us, including me, seem to get this simple task wrong so I am going to attempt to address goal setting in this article.

My personal view on goal setting is that it’s been thought about and talked about way too much in the last few decades. It has become over complicated and continues to be something that we just don’t follow through on – I am very guilty of this myself.

What has been successful for me is just to cut through all the noise and develop a way of goal setting that is easy to follow, and doesn’t require hours and hours of your time. The quicker you can complete a list of your goals, the more likely you are not to overthink them.

Why should you write goals???

This realisation has taken a long time to come to me so I want to keep this part very straightforward so that anyone can understand it. The reason you need to write goals is because goals will assist you in improving your present-moment reality.

Properly written goals will help to inspire, create hope and fill you with desire. Anything that can make you feel better and help you re-focus in the present moment is going to be highly useful for you on your own journey of success.

So, every time you write a goal you are actually inspiring yourself in the present moment as well as assisting yourself to take action right now instead of tomorrow!

Below are the six easy steps that I follow to write game-changing goals. Feel free to use some or all of them when you write your own.

1. Try to aim for less than ten

I have found that when you start attempting to write more than ten goals for a year, you begin to tell yourself that what you want is too hard. The key to writing goals is not to write every single goal down but to concentrate your effort on your major goals.

Don’t let small goals confuse you. Often when people think of their smaller goals they are actually referring to tasks that are required to be completed as part of an overarching major goal. Find another way to track these if you can.

Recently, when I completed my goal list, I ended up with seven major goals. These seven were refined down from the initial nine that I came up with. It’s important to cull a few if they are things that are not a priority or might happen beyond the next twelve months.

2. Link them to your vision

One of the goals I wrote down on my list was to join Toastmasters and learn public speaking. After I had reread the goal, I realised that public speaking is not part of my vision, and it’s an ugly phrase that the majority of us are scared of.

So, what I advise to fix these types of issues is to write the goal down and mention your vision in the description. For me, this meant rewriting the goal to say “complete three months of Toastmasters, so I can start to inspire people with my talks.”

By adding in the part about inspiring people, I am directly linking the goal to a section of my vision which is to inspire the world through my work. For your own goals, you absolutely must do this.

If you look at your goals each day, and they don’t inspire you or make you feel passionate, then you will never follow through on them. You wouldn’t want that now would you?

3. Set a deadline

Notice how this step mentions deadline and not timeframe? That’s because a deadline has to be met but a timeframe is negotiable.

As you write your goals down you should have a separate column that says deadline. Next to each goal you should write a date that this goal must be completed by. Once all your goals are written down go back and look at the dates. Make sure the date you have put for each goal is realistic and as accurate as you can.

Then, check to see when deadlines fall. Try to have at least one goal expiring every three months (obviously this will depend on the size of the goal). This creates the feeling of progress which all of us humans crave, and it will subconsciously keep you motivated.

If all of your goals expire on the same date or in the same month, then you should rewrite your deadlines again.

4. Write them down in the right state of mind

Writing your goals down when you are in an angry or frustrated state will usually result in an uninspiring list of goals. Before you set aside some time to write your goals down, watch an inspiring movie, read something inspiring or do some exercise with high energy music.

Try this and see the difference it has on the way your goals are worded. The movie I recommend watching before a goal setting session is Remember The Titans and the book I would recommend is The Motivation Manifesto if you’re stuck for ideas.

5. Keep them in your wallet

When you have finished writing your goals down, you need to display them somewhere where you won’t forget them. It’s useless going through a goal setting exercise if you never look at them again.

As soon as you have written your goals down you should print them out on a small piece of paper and keep them in your wallet. If you want to go the extra mile (and a lot of you will), then print your goals out and stick them on your desk, bedside table, and anywhere else that you will see them constantly.

This simple task helps you remember what’s important and why you should ignore distractions as much as possible that don’t relate to these goals. I have found that goals create focus and for anyone like me who constantly gets distracted, it keeps you in control.

6. Create accountability with some key people

The moment I finished writing down my own goals I emailed them to some key people. The reason why I recommend you do the same is that by doing this, you create leverage. It means that there other people out there who you have told what you have committed too.

The other major benefit is not so obvious and let me give you an example. One of the goals I wrote down was to meet a certain Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist named Bill Tai. The reason I included him was that I wanted the people reading my goals to know what’s important to me.

When key people around you know what’s important to you, they also keep a lookout for ways they can help you to achieve your goals (especially if that key person is fundamental to one of your goals). So far, I haven’t had luck in meeting Bill Tai yet, but as long as I keep telling people that this is important to me, eventually this goal will be realised.

Now, I just used this very point and demonstrated it to you. How? By telling all of you that this is my goal on the off chance that maybe one of you knows Bill Tai. Maybe it will help me achieve the goal or maybe it won’t say but what it will do is increase the chances of me achieving this goal.

It’s time to create some leverage. Share your goals in the comments section below or with me directly on my Facebook and Twitter.

Tim is best known as a long-time contributor on Addicted2Success. Tim's content has been shared millions of times and he has written multiple viral posts all around personal development and entrepreneurship.You can connect with Tim through his website www.timdenning.net

Thank you for such a wise and alturistic coontribution. I was going to list the wonderful portions of your content, but it was too long. Everything you contribute is a blessing to me and obviously others as well. I am new to goal setting and have only generally had goals and met them with great success and not so great. I have read a couple of goal setting specific books and systems, but your six easy steps clearly are game changing. You clearly are an asset to your clients and those who are fortunate enough to have come across your free content.

Thank you, Tim. You have blessed me considerably. I know now that I don’t have to read much more, or search for a system or tool to attain my goals in a game-changing way. I look forward to reading more and connecting with you on twitter and facebook and email. To your success, Wes Graham

Wes thank you for your very generous comments I don;t think anyone has been that positive about my work so far. There loads of books on goals but I find they are over-complicated. I hope these steps will help you to reach the success you deserve. Thanks again for reading.

This very article is incredibly right on time for me, once again. I think the law of attraction somehow works here, as one of the youtubers I watch love to say, ‘your vibe attract your tribe’!

I have set, and eventually achieved goals just at edge of the year and was very delighted & satisfied. I did move into a new place and paid all my debts, and my job is constantly improving as well as my attitude towards it. Howevere for the last few days I felt empty inside, like something was missing. I realized it is so called ‘post-achivement’ syndrome when after you got what you wanted you feel depressed. So now I need new goals to pursue. Goals, that will drives me to better version of myself.

But for the last year I thought about goals setting in a different way. More often I felt huge pressure instead of inspiration by writting them off and you said it quite precisely, it’s been talked and thought about way too much and more you think of that process, more overwhelmed you become. I smiled at your line here ‘.. and for anyone like me who constantly gets distracted ..’ as it’s the same with me. I still working on my ability to focus, but reading Tony Robbins ‘Awaken the Giant Within’ has helped me find a ground.

Thus, back to setting your goals, I think it is necessary, it may be or feel like that, but I begin to like the idea to go with the flow, naturally. You will need attributes to do so, like discipline, courage, your morning/daily routine, passion, motivation and clear idea (I like your quote in the picture by the way!) or at least to follow passion (and if you don’t have one – keep looking). I think, once again, you need to find a balance here, because there moments in your life when you just have to let it all go and be yourself, live your life and enjoy the very present moment, because not a single one of us guaranteed to have tomorrow. What do you think of it, Tim?

Oh, and your last point about benefits of accountability and telling key people (or just good people, or all people) is actually pretty awesome. I’ve never thought about it that way as I love to keep my dreams and goals to myself, but hey, you cannot control everything, right? I love the idea to allow the universe work for you by telling your goals which may help to attract the exact circumstances and help you on your journey. That is just wonderful! Yesterday I shared some of ideas with people around me and it felt good.

Thank you so much once again Tim, I enjoyed this morning reading and get my mind stretched and ready for the new and awesome day, my appreciation for your work and passion!

ps: one more thing, I wake up today still under impression of movie you suggested, ‘The Blind Side’. Watched it last night and was speechless for a while. It touched so many aspects withing me that I barely had all my attention to think about all of it. Such inspiriational movie that gave me something I cannot explain yet. I going yo follow your advise and watch those movies you talked about in this article, as I am quite passionate about it. I am very grateful!

Toño great to hear from you as always. Congrats on getting your life back together. You have come so far since you initially started some of the articles I posted so congrats. In relation to goals, I am in the same space as you and needing to challenge myself. That’s why I am going to learn the art of public speaking so wish me luck!

I think you are spot on about living in the moment and you are clearly doing that my friend. Glad you watched The Blind Side it’s one of my favourite movies. Everyone I have told to watch it has said the same thing as you.

Keep doing what you’re doing and been inspired. You will get where you want to go I am sure of it.

Thank you, Tim, it is always a pleasure to read your replies. I am still far away from the dream life I desire and lots of work ahead. I am still having my high & lows every day and my life is like rollercoaster. But sometimes I think I just cannot be satisfied and always want more..

The art of public speaking is a great carft and actually I would love to hear from you one day your message, your pasion and your ideas, so I wish you all the good luck to achieve it! Even though I think we create our own luck, some magic help from the Universe will be beneficial 🙂

Thank you for all kind words and support, I appreciate it greatly and it means a lot as additional motivation for me!

3 Questions That Will Immediately Ramp Up Your Creative Flow

If you’d like to learn how to ramp up your creative flow so you can produce your best work, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

While creativity has long been co-opted by the arts, anyone that’s been in business, built a new product, or pitched a new sales deck knows that creative thinking and execution aren’t only for the painters and poets but for everyone that wants to or–as so often the case as an entrepreneur–needs to think and work differently. At the heart of creative work is not talent, inspiration, or the hope of an epiphany; it’s flow.(more…)

Stack The Deck: 3 Ways To Ensure You Actually Reach Your Goals

If you’d like to learn how to properly set sustainable goals so you can accomplish them and improve your life, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

Most people get goal setting all wrong. Goal setting is not a complicated thing. In fact, once you know what you’re doing, it’s quite straightforward. However, somewhere along the line, people seemed to confuse goal setting with resolutions. They can also confuse goal setting with daydreaming or with wishful thinking. That’s not goal setting. Saying I want to:(more…)

7 Successful People and Their Time-Tested Secrets to Success

If you’d like to learn how to be fearless in life so you can accomplish everything you want to do and become successful, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

Have you ever wondered how successful people get to where they are in life? It looks so easy and effortless for them to have a good time, make friends, and influence people. We see the glory, the splendid mansions, the adoring public, the wealthy lifestyle, and the endearing media coverage. However, many don’t see the long arduous journeys they have taken. The pains, the tears, the struggles, and the desperation that some of them have crawled out of.(more…)

5 Mindfulness and Meditation Habits to Boost Your Success Mindset

If you’d like to learn how to develop mindfulness and meditation practices so you can improve your success mindset, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.

Our capacity to succeed at what we do is largely dependent upon our mindset. Whether we are fully aware of it or not, the beliefs and thoughts we hold, shape the actions we take and the results we achieve. Increasing our awareness of our thoughts and shaping them in mindful ways is therefore a key component in adopting a success mindset.(more…)